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​'It's a disgrace': Trump lets loose after offices of his attorney raided

President blasts raid on attorney, Mueller probe

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Updated: 5:53 AM MDT Apr 10, 2018

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​'It's a disgrace': Trump lets loose after offices of his attorney raided

President blasts raid on attorney, Mueller probe

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Updated: 5:53 AM MDT Apr 10, 2018

President Donald Trump continued his harsh criticism of a raid by federal authorities on the offices of his personal attorney and of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation Tuesday morning."Attorney--client privilege is dead!" he tweeted, as well as casting the probe into Russian election meddling and possible Trump campaign collusion as, "A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!! (sic)"The tweets came a day after Trump branded the raid as “an attack on our country” and exhibited mounting concern about the yearlong probe.Caught off guard and furious with the encroaching inquiry, the president showed a flare of temper watching cable news coverage of the raid Monday afternoon, summoning lawyers Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow to get their opinion of what was happening.Aides and outside allies described Trump as shaken and increasingly frustrated by the development, and they said his reaction had sparked discussion about whether the raid would usher an unpredictable new phase in how the president responds to the probe.Trump vented from the Oval Office that Mueller’s investigators were “going too far” and conducting “their witch hunt” to undermine his presidency, according to three people familiar with the president’s views but not allowed to discuss them publicly.Minutes later, he publicly unleashed his sharpest invective to date against the sweeping investigation, calling the Monday search “a disgrace.”“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense,” he said in the Cabinet Room, flanked by the nation’s top military brass, who watched the scene stone-faced. “It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”Trump let loose after federal agents pierced the protective bubble around him, seizing records from the offices of longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen, on topics including a $130,000 payment made to a porn actress who says she had sex with Trump more than a decade ago.Cohen has been an ardent defender in Trump’s business, personal and political affairs for more than a decade — Cohen claims to have used a personal home equity loan to pay the adult film actress, known as Stormy Daniels — and the probe’s expansion into the president’s inner circle left Trump fuming.The president didn’t bat away the idea of firing Mueller, saying people have advised him to take that action: “Why don’t I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on — we’ll see what happens.”He said the raid in New York marked a “whole new level of unfairness” by Mueller and his team.Trump called the probe a “witch hunt,” as he has many times in the past, complaining that it distracts from serious issues such as consideration of a military response to the apparent use of a chemical weapon on Syrian civilians over the weekend. That was one of the intended subjects of his Monday evening meeting with the defense secretary, the joint chiefs of staff and U.S. combat commanders.Instead, with reporters in the Cabinet Room and cameras rolling, Trump opened the meeting with an unprompted four-minute critique of Mueller’s investigation. “I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man,” Trump began, referring to agents who had obtained search warrants from a federal judge.The raid on Cohen’s office was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan and was based at least partly on a referral from Mueller, according to Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan.Trump blasted the Mueller team as “the most conflicted group of people I’ve ever seen,” labeling most of them Democrats and saying the few Republicans had worked for President Barack Obama.“They’re not looking at the other side,” he complained, referencing the long investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. “They’re not looking at the Hillary Clinton horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that she committed.”Mueller, a lifelong Republican, and his team of attorneys have been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and associated misdeeds in the president’s orbit since May 2017.Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel last year after the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.Trump lit into Sessions, repeating in public his private criticism of the attorney general for making a “terrible mistake” in recusing himself from the Russia probe. Trump said Sessions “should have certainly let us know” he would step aside in the probe and we would have “put a different attorney general in.”

President Donald Trump continued his harsh criticism of a raid by federal authorities on the offices of his personal attorney and of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation Tuesday morning.

"Attorney--client privilege is dead!" he tweeted, as well as casting the probe into Russian election meddling and possible Trump campaign collusion as, "A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!! (sic)"

The tweets came a day after Trump branded the raid as “an attack on our country” and exhibited mounting concern about the yearlong probe.

Caught off guard and furious with the encroaching inquiry, the president showed a flare of temper watching cable news coverage of the raid Monday afternoon, summoning lawyers Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow to get their opinion of what was happening.

Aides and outside allies described Trump as shaken and increasingly frustrated by the development, and they said his reaction had sparked discussion about whether the raid would usher an unpredictable new phase in how the president responds to the probe.

Trump vented from the Oval Office that Mueller’s investigators were “going too far” and conducting “their witch hunt” to undermine his presidency, according to three people familiar with the president’s views but not allowed to discuss them publicly.

Minutes later, he publicly unleashed his sharpest invective to date against the sweeping investigation, calling the Monday search “a disgrace.”

“It’s an attack on our country in a true sense,” he said in the Cabinet Room, flanked by the nation’s top military brass, who watched the scene stone-faced. “It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”

Trump let loose after federal agents pierced the protective bubble around him, seizing records from the offices of longtime Trump attorney Michael Cohen, on topics including a $130,000 payment made to a porn actress who says she had sex with Trump more than a decade ago.

Cohen has been an ardent defender in Trump’s business, personal and political affairs for more than a decade — Cohen claims to have used a personal home equity loan to pay the adult film actress, known as Stormy Daniels — and the probe’s expansion into the president’s inner circle left Trump fuming.

The president didn’t bat away the idea of firing Mueller, saying people have advised him to take that action: “Why don’t I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on — we’ll see what happens.”

He said the raid in New York marked a “whole new level of unfairness” by Mueller and his team.

Trump called the probe a “witch hunt,” as he has many times in the past, complaining that it distracts from serious issues such as consideration of a military response to the apparent use of a chemical weapon on Syrian civilians over the weekend. That was one of the intended subjects of his Monday evening meeting with the defense secretary, the joint chiefs of staff and U.S. combat commanders.

Instead, with reporters in the Cabinet Room and cameras rolling, Trump opened the meeting with an unprompted four-minute critique of Mueller’s investigation. “I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man,” Trump began, referring to agents who had obtained search warrants from a federal judge.

The raid on Cohen’s office was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan and was based at least partly on a referral from Mueller, according to Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan.

Trump blasted the Mueller team as “the most conflicted group of people I’ve ever seen,” labeling most of them Democrats and saying the few Republicans had worked for President Barack Obama.

“They’re not looking at the other side,” he complained, referencing the long investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. “They’re not looking at the Hillary Clinton horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that she committed.”

Mueller, a lifelong Republican, and his team of attorneys have been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and associated misdeeds in the president’s orbit since May 2017.

Mueller reports to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the special counsel last year after the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.

Trump lit into Sessions, repeating in public his private criticism of the attorney general for making a “terrible mistake” in recusing himself from the Russia probe. Trump said Sessions “should have certainly let us know” he would step aside in the probe and we would have “put a different attorney general in.”